Do your "people" cook from scratch?

[JohnSmithDrive]

My mum did and I do mostly. If I have people round for a buffet, things like quiche and sausage rolls, cake are homemade. If it's for dinner it won't be particularly exciting, but I'd do a homemade chilli or lasagne, something easy to prep ahead and feed lots of people..

Among my friends no one cooks, to the extent that it feels pretentious to do so. They are all generous hosts, but everything will be from a packet or they'll suggest takeaway pizza or similar.

I worry that my cooking seems like showing off and also (sometimes) wonder why I bother!

They really, really don’t care if I’ve made the lasagne myself and it comes out of the oven in a glass dish or I’ve bought it from the deli and it’s come out of the oven in a foil tray.

But what about if you had bought it from Tesco and it came out of the oven in a plastic tray?

Yes I cook pretty much everything from scratch. My mum never did as I was growing up and I didn't in my twenties. Only when I was in my thirties and had my first child that I stopped buying overly processed food.

I cook and bake everything from scratch and I cook every day for that day. To make it a bit easier some of my friends cook in advance, usualy over the wekend for the weekdays and mostly soups and stews. It is realy not that hard or time consuming once you get the hang of it.

Tonight's dinner (and indeed most of my dinners) is what I'd call modular cooking - I heated up some potatoes, some brussels sprouts and some carrots (all done in a steamer, carrots go in last). Then added a bit of smoked salmon (the packet chunked version, not the sliced stuff) and some creme fraiche.

I’m sorry, but smoked salmon, crème fraiche, potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts? What possessed you to combine those ingredients?

Honestly, just to reiterate: your 'simple homemade cheese' is shite. I promise you. Those of us who care about cheese really, really wish you wouldn't.

I cook most from scratch because I love cooking and I find it generally quite economical.
However I know exactly what you mean, I almost feel I have to apologise that I’ve cooked from scratch as I’m worried it looks snobby or like I’m judging friends who don’t. But honestly I just love cooking and creating food (especially party food or sharing food) is one of my main pleasures in life.
We had a bonfire gathering and I cooked everything from scratch, and the guests said they enjoyed it, but I got some comments saying they wouldn’t have been bothered to do it themselves because it looked like a lot of work, and thought maybe it looked like I tried too hard. But really I just enjoyed the day in the kitchen with the radio on.

My best friend and sister in law both love to cook from scratch and sometimes we have cooking dates (we meet to make Christmas cakes etc) and I’m aware this is possibly weird. Most of my other friends don’t cook anything at all, so I don’t generally mention it.

I think it’s one of those things that’s really dependent on whether or not you like cooking. It’s fair enough if you don’t. But if you do then great, you can find some pleasure in chore.

Cooking from scratch especially when inviting people round is giving of your best efforts.
Can't ever image serving a lasagne from Tesco's.😯😂😂😂
Beans on toast would taste better.

Quoting @HaveringWavering "I’m sorry, but smoked salmon, crème fraiche, potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts? What possessed you to combine those ingredients?"

Well, mostly just because I like all of them :) The (new / small) potatoes / Brussels / carrots combo is nice as it is with a bit of butter or marg, but they also mash very nicely (which is how I had them tonight and the creme fraiche adds to that).

The salmon could equally be a bit of chicken. It's this sort of smoked salmon www.marksandspencer.com/arbroath-hot-smoked-lochmuir-salmon-and-trout-selection/p/fdp60046267 which is 'meaty' not the 'soft' stuff that just reminds me of Gunther von Hagens' plastinated body parts, and always seems a bit not-cooked to me. To be fair I don't usually heat the salmon, it's nice cold even with the hot veg.

Jo

My MIL does everything from scratch.

But her quiches always soggy, pastry on sausage rolls always hard/too thick, meat really greasy so the chilli/curry has a layer on top.

Would rather it was supermarket quiche etc.

Makes me feel better than DH married a not cook from scratch person as he prefers shop version too.

So some people worry that cooking from scratch is snobbish? I’ve never heard of that. In most of the world, where convenience food exists, working class people cook from scratch mainly because it’s all they can afford.

@TreborBore

So some people worry that cooking from scratch is snobbish? I’ve never heard of that. In most of the world, where convenience food exists, working class people cook from scratch mainly because it’s all they can afford.

This is an overgeneralisation. Some do, some don't. Your assumption that 'working class' automatically equates to 'poor' is a bit offensive too tbh.

@RampantIvy

What's the difference between an M&S lasagne and one you make from scratch? Or a quiche or pizza? Is it really that hard to understand?

Quite a lot of difference. Is that really hard to understand? I am a pretty good cook. My friends would wonder why I had invited them for a meal and then just heated up a ready meal.

It would be so out of character for me or any of my friends to do this.

Having friends over for dinner is as much about the food as it is about seeing people.

I literally wouldn't know if the lasagne given to me on a plate was made from scratch or from the supermarket. I don't give enough of a shit to care or notice.

Do you guys all make sure to announce it or?

@TreborBore

So some people worry that cooking from scratch is snobbish? I’ve never heard of that. In most of the world, where convenience food exists, working class people cook from scratch mainly because it’s all they can afford.

Well, this is the irony from some of the posters here too horrified to ever serve something from a plastic tray from the supermarket. I grew up in a developing country where a ready-made lasagne was considered the height of sophistication because it was so expensive, it was just made at home.

But some people here are smugly patting themselves on the back for doing something that most of the world just does

@PurpleDaisies

You’re not in my real life *@MapleMay11*.

Making pasta from scratch is not easy. This is one of those crazy mumsnet things that no one actually thinks is true.

If you have a decent pasta maker it is significantly easier than I imagined, actually.

Still not as easy as opening a packet of dried pasta, and I can’t say there’s much difference, unless you are making stuffed pasta or something.

I literally wouldn't know if the lasagne given to me on a plate was made from scratch or from the supermarket. I don't give enough of a shit to care or notice.

They taste really different! I can’t believe you couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe not one from an expensive Italian deli, but that’s not what people are talking about. If you genuinely couldn’t tell the difference between a standard tesco ready meal lasagne and a home-made one, I honestly don’t know what to say. They look completely different for one thing.

@Changechangychange

I literally wouldn't know if the lasagne given to me on a plate was made from scratch or from the supermarket. I don't give enough of a shit to care or notice.

They taste really different! I can’t believe you couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe not one from an expensive Italian deli, but that’s not what people are talking about. If you genuinely couldn’t tell the difference between a standard tesco ready meal lasagne and a home-made one, I honestly don’t know what to say. They look completely different for one thing.

Guess you just have a really sophisticated palate then, what can I say.

I would have thought that it's pretty difficult to remove a lasagne in one piece from a plastic container and transfer it to a ceramic dish to make it look home made.

If we have guests for dinner I wouldn't just plonk lasagne on the plate in the kitchen. I would bring it out in the dish I had cooked it in. Doesn't everyone?

Sure, a ready made dish from a plastic packaging can often taste even better than home made. Because it's full of sugar and trans fats. I cook at home not because I'm a snob, but because it is unarguably much better for your health to start with actual ingredients, like vegetables, meat and fish - instead of reaching for a dish where they have industrially processed with the aim of making them as sugar and fat laden to appeal to the many people, with the longest possible shelf life.

Many ready prepared meals are of a high quality - good ingredients and they aren’t all high calorie. We don’t cook from scratch as we don’t have the time or interest but not everything is a microwave dinner. We eat healthy, mainly low calorie meals with many portions of fruit and vegetables each day. We don’t peel or scrape them but buy ready prepared trays of vegetables which can then be microwaved or roasted.
None of us are overweight or unhealthy. We either go for a run or to the gym most days so use the time others spend cooking from scratch in different ways.

Taste aside, ready made lasagna is a completely different texture to home made. Homemade is firmer, ready made is usually sloppy.

@Parker231 could you give an example of a good quality ready meal please?

Ready meals and pre prep vegetables are two different things Imo.
One is a meal and you don’t expect to add or prepare anything else.
Prep vegetables (vegs peeled and cut ready to cook) are removing one step of the preparation - just like canned vegetables really - and are nit a ready meal.

Of course you still need to think about how the process of preparing them has gone. Eg how salad is washed with chlorine, baby carrots reconstituted from misshapen carrots etc….

I cook from scratch. However, I would buy quiche, sausage rolls and cake pre-made. I love cooking but don't enjoy baking at all.

www.cookfood.net/products/stuffed-Sea-Bass/

This is one meal we’ve had regularly - absolutely gorgeous and healthy too. My objective is quick, easy and something we enjoy.

Im never going to prepare a salad or vegetables when excellent substitutes are available ready prepared by just opening a bag and putting it on the plate.

@Parker231

Many ready prepared meals are of a high quality - good ingredients and they aren’t all high calorie. We don’t cook from scratch as we don’t have the time or interest but not everything is a microwave dinner. We eat healthy, mainly low calorie meals with many portions of fruit and vegetables each day. We don’t peel or scrape them but buy ready prepared trays of vegetables which can then be microwaved or roasted. None of us are overweight or unhealthy. We either go for a run or to the gym most days so use the time others spend cooking from scratch in different ways.

Which ready meals? There's no way on earth the proverbial Ready meal 'Lasagne' tastes anything like a genuine Italian 'Lasagne. No chance.

Even the lowly tomato taste bought from a French outdoor grower's marker tastes completely different from the supermarket pish.

People are either food enthusiasts or not.

My homemade lasagne is sloppy. We prefer it like that.